“Out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on…”
Kiera Knightley has heavily criticised Kate Middleton’s seemingly picture-perfect post-baby appearances in a new essay.
The actress had her daughter, Edie, a day before Princess Charlotte was born in May 2015.
She recalled how her pregnancy experience seemingly differed from the Duchess of Cambridge’s in an essay in Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies).
In the collections of essays, the 33-year-old wrote a piece called “The Weaker Sex” – and didn’t hold back when discussing the Duchess of Cambridge’s first appearance on the steps of the Lindo Wing after Charlotte’s birth.
She wrote [via Refinery 29]:
“We stand and watch the TV screen. She was out of hospital seven hours later with her face made up and high heels on. The face the world wants to see.
“Hide. Hide our pain, our bodies splitting, our breasts leaking, our hormones raging.
“Look beautiful, look stylish, don’t show your battleground, Kate.
“Seven hours after your fight with life and death, seven hours after your body breaks open, and bloody, screaming life comes out.
“Don’t show. Don’t tell. Stand there with your girl and be shot by a pack of male photographers.”
The actress’ essay was meant to speak out against the pressure that new mums face to look a certain way – and she gave her own experience of childbirth as a comparison.
She wrote:
“My vagina split. You came out with your eyes open. Arms up in the air. Screaming.
“They put you on to me, covered in blood, vernix, your head misshapen from the birth canal.
“Pulsating, gasping, screaming. You latched on to my breast immediately, hungrily, I remember the pain. The mouth clenched tight around my nipple, light sucking on and sucking out.
“I remember the sh*t, the vomit, the blood, the stitches.
“I remember my battleground. Your battleground and life pulsating. Surviving.
“And I am the weaker sex?”
The collection of essays, Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies), is available to buy now.
